Clare Turlay Newberry

Image Not Available for Clare Turlay Newberry
Clare Turlay Newberry
Image Not Available for Clare Turlay Newberry

Clare Turlay Newberry

American illustrator and author, 1903–1970
BiographyClare Turlay Newberry (1903–1970) was an American illustrator and author of children's books, who achieved fame for her drawings of cats.

Born in Oregon, she began her professional career at age 16, selling illustrations to children’s magazines. She studied at the School of the Portland Art Museum and California School of Fine Arts in the 1920s. She wanted to be a portrait painter and traveled to Paris for further study in 1930. Newberry composed and illustrated her first children’s book in order to earn enough money for passage home.

Finding success in illustrating children’s books, she abandoned her plans to be a portraitist and came to specialize in illustrating animals, especially cats. She would illustrate seventeen children's books and win four Caldecott honors.

Person TypeIndividual
Terms
  • illustrators
  • authors
  • female